Senior Public Finance Advisor

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International Consultant contracts.

Background

Objective

The overall objectives of this assignment are to support the partner countries of the Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific (Gov4Res) project in risk informing planning and budgeting functions. The Expert will also provide strategic guidance, capacity building and training to the Gov4Res project team and contribute to project implementation and reporting

Background

The Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific (Gov4Res) project works with Pacific governments to ensure that countries adapt their decision making and governance systems towards more resilient development. The project’s theory of change rests on a core assumption that Pacific Island people will be more resilient to the impacts of climate change and disasters if countries manage all development through a risk informed approach. This is consistent with the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific which calls for the ‘mainstreaming’ of climate and disaster risk, treating risk management as fundamental to all development decisions.

The Gov4Res project has three outcome areas: 1) government planning and financing systems enable gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development; 2) country oversight and accountability systems require gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development; and 3) regional organisations, policies and practices are actively supporting gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development.

The project is being delivered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office, in partnership with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

LTA CONTRACTING MODALITY AND CALL-OFF MECHANISM

• An LTA is a mutual arrangement between UNDP and the individual to provide the required services at established fee or provisions. The LTA will be established for one year and renewable for up to three years linked to satisfactory performance of the individual consultant(s). UNDP reserves the right to rescind the agreement during that period should performance of the consultant(s) not meet its requirements.
• It is expected the consultant(s) to be engaged for maximum 510 working days per year up to 2 years starting from Sept 2022 to 31 August, 2024
• UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services shall be contracted during the term of this Agreement. A specific Term of Reference (TOR) outlining the deliverables shall be provided, and an Individual Contract would be issued to the consultant, detailing the time frame.
• Once the LTA is signed, if there is a specific service required, the focal person in the UNDP hiring unit would contact the Consultant(s) and upon positive confirmation in the availability for the assignment, acceptance of the Term of reference, cost and travel arrangement, UNDP will issue an Individual Contract. Price in the order will be based on daily fee included in the LTA. After contract has been agreed between the two parties, no further costs would be reimbursed by UNDP unless there is prior written authorization by UNDP.

• Once the services are completed and have been approved by the hiring unit, the Consultant(s) will provide the following for payment purposes:

• a) complete invoice indicating the completed deliverables.

• b) supporting documentation (bills/vouchers) for reimbursements of travel costs if applicable;
• c) copy of the UNDP contract for the consultancy.

Payments will be made upon satisfactory achieved deliverables under each assignment and submission of time sheet in accordance with number of days worked. Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant(s).

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work/Expected Output

Outcome 1 of the Gov4Res project focuses on supporting systems reform within central government agencies including ministries of finance and planning. The Gov4Res project has commenced initiatives to mainstream climate change, disaster risk and gender and social inclusion issues into PFM processes by engaging Ministries of Finance and other relevant ministries in Fiji, Tonga (MEIDECC, NPD), and Solomon Islands (MECDM). Undertaking a ‘from-within’ approach, the project intends to build on current systems and processes, to create ownership for the reform agenda under the rubric of risk informing development. Preliminary support for climate change integration, through climate budget tagging processes has commenced through advocacy and consultations, including the development of policy briefs and options paper and consultative dialogues with the governments.

With the governments in these 3 countries set to adopt system-based changes to integrate CC into PFM systems, the responsibilities of the Senior Public Finance Advisor are anticipated at two levels – 1. With Senior Ministry staff and 2. With programmatic staff. The capacity support to the programmatic staff at MoF will include designing expenditure tracking solutions, preparation of periodic reports and inclusion of this data into government budgets. At a more senior level, the Advisor will support the higher authorities in the government to analyse the data for informed policy making. Finally, the Advisor is expected to provide capacity support to the Parliamentarians in the use of this data for enhancing budget oversight. More specific actions under each responsibility area would include:

1. Provide strategic advice to partner governments on mainstreaming risks into national planning and budgeting functions

2. Lead policy level dialogues to engage decision makers in the government to create ownership for reform measures articulated under Gov4Res project Outcome 1 (Government planning and financing systems enable gender and socially inclusive risk- informed development) and support Outcome 2. (Country oversight and accountability systems require gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development).

   1. Identify potential entry points in new partner countries (such as RMI and Tuvalu) by conducting diagnostics to identify strengths and opportunities in the government’s PFM practices for capturing risk and resilience in national planning and budgeting systems. Subsequently, conduct diagnostics on an annual basis to develop performance trajectories to inform progress on project implementation and identify progressive areas of support from the project
   2. Provide high-level technical assistance and advice to national counterparts and their institutions on strengthening the planning and budgeting systems. This would require development of policy briefs, conducting budget and expenditure analysis and similar needs based analytical papers.

3. Provide technical support to relevant ministries in Gov4Res partner countries

4. Support governments in strengthening budget allocation decision making processes. Countries in the Pacific have articulated policy objectives however the policy framework lacks fiscal perspective, as a result, the budget process lacks allocative efficiency and undermines social inclusion. To support the central budgetary authorities (Ministries of Finance and Planning) design a management decision support system (MDSS) to ensure the budget allocations have climate change, disaster and social inclusion perspectives.

   1. To support budget tagging reforms for different thematic areas (climate change, disaster and gender) conduct a review of the chart of accounts (CoA) and Government’s Financial Management Information System (FMIS) in partner countries to support the development of Climate change expenditure tracking solution and database of fiscal allocations aligned with national sustainable development and CC policy objectives.
   2. Support the development of reporting templates to support evidence-based policy formulation and informed budget allocation decisions. Provide recommendations on refining the expenditure tracking system to other thematic areas like SDGs, gender, and social inclusion.
5. Support the achievement of Outcome 2 of Gov4Res project (Country oversight and accountability systems require gender and socially inclusive risk-informed development)
   1. Facilitate the engagement of civil society organizations in budget preparation and execution process to ensure inclusive budgeting. Conduct situation analysis and develop policy brief along with an action plan for the introduction of participatory budgeting. Develop capacity building strategy and implement capacity response to support the adoption of participatory budgeting.
   2. Conduct orientation sessions with civil society organizations, develop budget briefs and facilitate pre budget sessions to make the CSO’s participation in the budget preparation process more effective.
   3. Provide capacity support to enhance budget scrutiny by the Parliamentarians. Develop concept note articulating measures for strengthening budget scrutiny. As an on-the-job coaching activity, collaborate with the Parliamentary research staff to prepare periodic budget and budget execution analysis to facilitate budget scrutiny with climate change, gender and social inclusion perspective.
6. Support institutionalization of technical assistance provided by Gov4Res

3.1 Develop options paper to design conditional grants mechanism to institutionalize the financing mechanism for community level development programs in the government’s core fiscal allocation system.

1. Develop knowledge products
   1. Develop guidance notes to facilitate users in the identification, classification and assigning climate relevance to budget allocations in the government budgeting and accounting system.
   2. Prepare Manual for FMIS teams in the government to use climate change expenditure tracking solution.
   3. Develop guidelines for budget circular to support preparation of budget proposals by sector ministries.
   4. Develop screening criteria and guidelines for strengthening project planning and prioritization in pilot sector ministries.
2. Identify, design and lead capacity building initiatives and training packages within the space of public financial management contextualized for risk informed development. Provide recommendations on executive development programs.

3. Mentor the Gov4Res funded staff embedded in the central and line ministries to ensure quality of technical support to the government

4. Provide advice and support implementation of the Gov4Res project

5. Provide strategic advice to the Gov4Res team and the UNDP Resilience and Sustainable Development team more broadly, on crosscutting issues like the mainstreaming of SDGs in public finance

6. Support data collection and analysis for project reporting purposes
7. Collaborate with regional and global partners on knowledge exchange programs and support efforts for peer-to-peer learning initiatives.

Institutional Arrangement

• The consultant will report directly to the Project Manager for the UNDP Governance for Resilience Project under the overall guidance of the Resilience and Sustainable Development Team Leader and will work in collaboration with other members of the Resilience and Sustainable Development team including Gov4Res team and key partners.
• The consultant is expected to provide their own laptop and communications equipment. UNDP will provide desk space in Suva and will make arrangements for travel to Suva and other countries as and when required.

Duration of Contract

For 2 years contract with a maximum of 510 days

• Start date: September 2022
• End date: August 2024

Long term Agreement Consultancy International -IC LTA

Duty Station

• This is a Suva, Fiji based assignment.
• UNDP will provide desk space in Suva and will make arrangements for travel to Suva and other countries as required.

Competencies

Core competencies

Innovation -Ability to make new and useful ideas work

Leadership - Ability to persuade others to follow

People Management -Ability to improve performance and satisfaction

Communication - Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform

Delivery -Ability to get things done

Technical / Functional Competencies

Strategic Planning -Ability to make decisions that align with strategy, vision, and mission

Results-based Management -Ability to manage programmes and projects with a strategy aimed at improved performance and demonstrable results

Risk Assessment / Management - Knowledge of risk assessment methodologies and ability to determine degree of risk and apply to strategic and/or practical situation;

Ability to identify and prioritize risks, and organize action around mitigating them

Secondary Competencies

Project Management - Ability to plan, organize, and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals

Data Measurement - Ability to set goals and indicators and to interpret and synthesize results into usable information to inform policy, strategy, and/or action

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Economics, Public Administration, Finance or related discipline

Experience

• At least 15 years of progressive experience in public finance, governance and climate change;
• Demonstrated experience of providing policy advice (at cabinet level) on governance, SDGs, PFM and mainstreaming climate change related reforms. Specific experience should include supporting governments in designing climate change expenditure tracking systems
• Demonstrated analytical experience in conducting diagnostics to identify entry points for reforms, which should include public expenditure and financial accountability (PEFA) assessments or climate public expenditure and institutional review (CPEIR) or public investment management assessments.
• Experience of working for or with the Development Partners to support institutional development and system reform
• Familiarity working with governance, or development planning particularly national, sectoral and/or sub-national planning;
• Experience integrating climate change gender and social dimensions into development;
• Excellent writing and drafting skills and experience of providing policy advice at the international, regional or national level;
• Knowledge of the Pacific region; and

Fluency in English (written and oral) is essential

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
• Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
• Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and b) a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultants must quote prices in United States Dollars (USD).

Note: Successful individual will be required to provide proof of medical insurance coverage before commencement of contract for the duration of the assignment.

Incomplete and joint proposals may not be considered. Consultants with whom there is further interest will be contacted. The successful consultant shall opt to sign an Individual Contract or a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) through its company/employer with UNDP.

Annexes

• Annex I - Individual IC General Terms and Conditions
• Annex II – Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to pts.fj@undp.org